The orthodox does not mean pro-government: the reasons of divergence in the party preferences of orthodox believers

The article is devoted to relationship of Russian Orthodox Church and Russian state. The author clarifies some thesis about the role of Orthodox believers in political process in modern Russia and reveals the results of his own research devoted to party preferences of Orthodox believers. He claims that devout believers do not vote for United Russia Party while nominal ones, on the contrary, give an active support to this party. The author opens the reasons for divergences in electoral preferences of Orthodox believers.